Optical device to reduce glare



i* April 4, 19.44. 'A, N SOMERS 2,345,777.

OPTICAL DEVICE TO REDUCE GLARE` Filed 0G11. 24, 1941 Amos Msomer'a v Patented pr. 4, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE oP'rICAL DEVICE 'ro REDUCE GLABE v Amos N. Somers, Westboro, Mass.

Application october 24, 1941, serial No. 416,347

(ci. ca -41) Y 1 Claim.

This invention relates to devices by which the glare of strong white light may be reduced and substantially eliminated.

To the accomplishment of this general object, I provide an optical device which includes a combination of color discs or filters so arranged and related that normal white light, such as sunlight or electric light, will be modied by lpassing through the discs and will 'sue from the device as a modied white light which is substantially without glare. i,

' Such an optical device isgobviously useful for many diierent purposes and I have shown the invention in this application as embodied in spectacles, in automobile headlights, and in electric bulbs.

The invention in these several embodiments is disclosed in the drawing, in which Fie. 1 is a sectional elevation showing a gen-v eral form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation'of a pair of spectacles in which the invention is embodied;

Fig. ,3 is a sectional side elevation, taken along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, of an automobile headlight embodying my invention; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section, of an electric light bulb also embodying my invention.

Referring to Fig. l, my improved optical device comprises a transparent blue disc lil, a transparent yellowl disc il, and a casing l2 in which the two discs are mounted. An annular spacing band I4 is preferably provided between the discs l0 and H, and a locking ring l5 holds the parts in assembled relation. y

The discs I0 and Il willbe of colored glass or of some other suitablel transparent medium, and.

for general purposes these discs are preferably at, so that the light rays passing through the device will not be diverted nor distorted but will be modied by the elimination of certain color disc Ii, which iscomplementary to the blue disc. 55

The light as it leaves the yellow disc is a modied white light, with certain of the irritating color elements ltered out.

The blue and yellow discs will be of such density and depth of color that the desired results Will be effectively attained. Y

It is found in actual use that this modied i greater or less spacing, the clearness is to some extent impaired.

In Fig. 2, I have shown my invention embodied in a pair of spectacles or sun glasses comprising a frame 20 in which a blue disc 2l and yellow disc 22 are mounted in spaced relation, with the spacing corresponding to the wave length of blue light and with the blue disc remote from the eye E, so that the light enters the blue disc rst.

In Fig. 4, I have shown the invention embodied in an automobile headlight comprising a casing I0 in which a blue disc 3i and a yellow disc 32 are mounted in spaced relation, with the blue disc i tric light bulb comprising a base 40 supporting a.

filament 4l within a transparent blue bulb 42,

which in turn is surrounded by a, transparent yellow bulb 43 mounted in spaced relation thereto. The spacing between the discs 3l and 32 in Fig.

4 and between the bulbs 42 and 43 in Fig. 5 preferably corresponds to the wave length of blue light, as previously described.

Many other practical applications of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art.

The important advantage or" my invention lies in the fact that'the light issuing from the device is not colored nor tinted so as to change the natural appearance of objects viewed therethrough, but is Aa white light so modified by the filtering action of the blue and yellow discs that certain color rays are filtered out and glare is substantially eliminated.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what I claim is:

In glare-reducing spectacles having a frame and a pair of double lenses mounted in laterally spaced relation in said frame, that improvement which comprises providing each double lens with a transparent yellow disc positioned in said frame nearer the eye of the wearer, a transparent blue disc positioned in said frame more remote from the eye of the wearer, means to secure said discs in said frame with the adjacent faces of' the transparent discs in each pair uniformly spaced apart by substantially the wave length o! the color in the blue disc, and the yellow and blue colors in the discs of each pair being optically related to jointly coact on the transmitted light and to thereby transform la glaring white light into a modied white light of greatly reduced glare and on the order of early twilight. A

- AMOS N. SOMERS. 

